I'm pleased to announce the release of MegaReader, our new iPhone eBook reader.

MegaReader was spawned out of our QuickReader app, which over time, based on user feedback, has grown into a general eBook reader. We created MegaReader because not everyone is interested in speed reading, but people seemed to enjoy the customization features and the convenience of finding and downloading free books directly in the app. MegaReader is available for $1.99 USD on the iTunes app store.

Portland, Oregon - Inkstone Software today is pleased to announce the launch of MegaReader 1.0, a highly customizable iPhone eBook reading app that gives users the choice of over 1.8 million free books on the internet. The MegaReader app has been designed to tap into book catalogs such as Feedbooks, Project Gutenberg, Baen Free Books, Smashwords, and the Internet Archive - allowing users to discover not only the classics (such as Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, and War and Peace), but also up and coming modern indie authors and publishers.

"The MegaReader app is a fantastic way to explore the nearly two million public domain titles freely available from the Internet Archive's BookServer catalog. We are thrilled to contribute to Inkstone's efforts to bring the enjoyment of these books to readers around the world" said Peter Brantley, Director of the BookServer Project, Internet Archive.

Once books have been downloaded to MegaReader over Wi-Fi they can be enjoyed anywhere, anytime without the need for an internet connection. Inkstone Software Founder Patrick Thompson said one of the key features of MegaReader, apart from the millions of free books on offer, was the advanced personalization it provided.

"Many reading apps currently available on the iPhone have rather utilitarian and confusing interfaces or they are very limited in the amount of customization you can do. We wanted to provide an elegant, easy to use interface that could be easily personalized to the reader's needs and tastes."

MegaReader gives users the ability to select one of 19 predefined color schemes, or to come up with one of their own from 1000s of available colors. There are also 23 fonts, 100s of font sizes and a variety of margin widths, line spacing, and text justification to choose from. Portrait or landscape modes can be locked depending on preference, and there is a built-in speed reading test that is used to calculate and display how long it will take to finish a chapter.

Users can easily navigate and search for books or authors from within MegaReader by browsing categories (such as mystery, action and adventure, romance, science fiction), viewing popular or recently added books, or looking at recommended reading lists and reviews.

The app is preloaded with 22 books to start users off, including works from Jane Austen, Dale Carnegie, Agatha Christie, Paulo Coelho, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jack London, and Kurt Vonnegut. DRM-free books can also be imported over Wi-Fi. MegaReader also works with iBookshelf and MyLibrary - two popular cataloging apps - to keep track of all physical and digital media assets and to customize book cover images in MegaReader.

Darnit, why isn't there any app that can read sideloaded ADE drm'ed ePubs?

By "designed to tap into book catalogs such as Feedbooks, Project Gutenberg, Baen Free Books, Smashwords, and the Internet Archive", does that mean that I can access my Smashwords library directly through your app, and read the eBook without having to jump through hoops (i.e. be transferred to Safari)?

@arcadata, I think the reason that more readers don't support ADE is that the licensing costs are exorbitant. I inquired about licensing the code earlier this year, but their quote was 1-2 orders of magnitude beyond what I, as a small developer, could afford. This doesn't make sense to me, as I would think they would want to have their DRM supported in as many readers as possible.

@murraypaul, I'm not sure how txtr supports ADE DRM. Either they were able to negotiate better terms with Adobe or they are taking a big loss or they found some kind of workaround. It might be worth my reengaging with Adobe to see if anything has changed.

@arcadata, You can download the free books and samples from Smashwords directly, but, they don't currently support a Bookshelf to access books that you have bought. I've raised this with them and hopefully it is something that Smashwords will support in the future.

@leebase, I have a lot of respect for the contribution the Stanza/Amazon guys made in laying the groundwork for OPDS, which is how we connect to the online catalogs. I'm not as crazy about their reader. People who prefer MegaReader/QuickReader over Stanza cite the simple interface, nice graphics, amount of customization you can do, and (for QuickReader) the improvement it has made in their reading speed. Another unique feature is it tells you how long it will take to complete a chapter and, in an upcoming release, how long to complete a book. Ultimately it comes down to preference. For most people, $1.99 is practically free, so "commercial vs. free" isn't a significant factor.

@arcadata, I think the reason that more readers don't support ADE is that the licensing costs are exorbitant. I inquired about licensing the code earlier this year, but their quote was 1-2 orders of magnitude beyond what I, as a small developer, could afford. This doesn't make sense to me, as I would think they would want to have their DRM supported in as many readers as possible.

@murraypaul, I'm not sure how txtr supports ADE DRM. Either they were able to negotiate better terms with Adobe or they are taking a big loss or they found some kind of workaround. It might be worth my reengaging with Adobe to see if anything has changed.

I didn't know that it was Adobe being an ass about licensing costs (I guess that's also why iBooks has its own drm) - I'd be very interested to find out how txtr is able to do it too!